‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Creator Bill Watterson Debuts First Cartoon in Almost 20 Years

Famed cartoonist Bill Watterson debuted the cover art for comics documentary, “Stripped,” on Wednesday, the first cartoon the artist has released publicly since retiring the “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip in 1995.

Though 5-year-old Calvin was known to be a jaybird every now and then, the nude man on the cover of “Stripped” is a significant departure for the cartoonist.

“Given the movie’s title and the fact that there are few things funnier than human nudity, the idea popped into my head largely intact,” Watterson told the Washington Post.

The legendary cartoonist agreed to contribute cover art to the documentary about comic strips and the danger they face with the decline in newspaper circulation, for which Watterson granted a rare interview to directors Dave Kellett and Frederick Schroeder.

“It sounded like fun, and maybe something people wouldn’t expect, so I decided to give it a try,” Watterson said.

“Dave sent me a rough cut of the film and I dusted the cobwebs off my ink bottle.”